The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1887-12-31
"INTERVENTIONS,"
And tho Happiness Which Fol-
lowed Their Removal

The little dinner in the little dining
room was over Mt last. The maid-of-
all-work, who had burned the gravy,
and taken up the boiled pudding too
soon, had now, with some clatter and
stumbling. cleared the room, and ar
ranged IL for the evening. The chill
dren, who ha not minded her failures,
and were merry and talkativc because
there was n guest who smiled upon
them. had been coaxed and command
ed away 10 bed.
At last lttlo Mrs Worden was free
To sit down by her friend for conf
dental talk, and her husband was free
10 Withdraw from his newspaper, not
10 the library but TO the other side of
the table. Mrs. Wordon had her work
basket in hor hand, but sho put it aside
~ she looked into her friends face
the heart was in her eyes.
"Oh. Margaret, | am so glad to see
you!' she said. alt was so selfish of
me 10 ask you TO come now, but never
wanted you SO before"
"And never was so glad 10 come y"
"Do you mean IL? used to take
such pleasure in making your vaca-
tons pleasant, but every thing is so
different now. Every thing is gone
that you used TO enjoy; the nice large
room | kept for you, and the library.
and the pictures. aud tho carriage, and
even tho piano"
"But. dear Holen. didn't come to
visit you for those"
"No; but | loved TO think YOU en-
joycd them. Now have brought you
10 this little, stuny house, with the
children all over IL. You can hear
their noise from morning till night
There is no Elise to keep them in the
nursery, or take them oil for an airing.
They'll torment the life out of YOU"
"No,' said Margaret, my life never
will go that way"
But every thing is so different. You
saw Bridget It's so different keeping
house with her from what it used to bo
with the three nice maids | had. In
deed. do my best, Margaret, but you
saw how it was Mt dinner We gave
up all our real silver John would.
you know; and we kept only partly
broken set of china. The table doesn' t
look ns 1t used to-
Never mind. dear. Indeed. don t
think of that
NO." said Mrs. Wordcn, mournful-
ly. "l}ut | can't even give YOU much
ofmyself this time lhavo to be busy cv-
cry minute till the children are in bed
| ought to be sewing now. We can't
have any moro nice talks over books
and questions. you know | hardly
know such things exist My mind is
full Of nothing but houscwork and
children. I've gwen up the Literary
Club and The Charity Union. and | can
not mako calls. Those nice people you
used To like to meet | seldom see now.
I've just dropped out OF their way. |
can't give any such nice little rcccp-
tion for YOU rs We had last year"
81 don't want il; loa know don't y
"Whcn | sent Tor YOU last week was
feeling rs il | could not face New
Years without VOL When think of
the change one little year has brought
il seems like nightmare. Every
thing pleasant went at once. lt was
hardest To looS our country house. We
both loved il, il was so sweet and airy
out there, and we had such lovely
ncighbors. When | looked forward to
spending the whole summer in the city
with the children il seemed awful"
And has it proved as bad rs you
fcarcd?'
"Wen, no; I've really been SO busy
j hardly knew how the DAYS passed.
And we have been remarkably we'll.
and John has been 20 thoughtful for
me and the children. Poor joint think
what year this has been for himl He
was so uscd to tho sense of having n
fortune e. fall back upon. And now
know it fairly ir'ghtcns him some
times to think there is only his slender
salary between Us and want"
There is mere than that" said
Margaret There's Gods large. kind
providence.
Yes" said Helen. humbly. al
know. bUt forget some times )"
81 want to tel YOU some thing"
said Margaret IL mourned over your
losses. dear Helen. but since I've been
here haven't been realizing them as
you might think. I've been 50 happy
over the gains
What gainsp"
"oh, my dear, you have got rid OF
the interventionsN'
"What do you mean by interven'
tions2"
"Let me try 70 tell you. Helen.
was a hypocrite often in the days when
you were rich. and visited YOU.
pretended to be happy, and | did enjoy
a great deal that knew You wanted me
TO enjoy. But all the while there was
such uneasy fears In my heartl Some